


Travelin' Blues

by nukacolass



Series: Same Old Blues [1]
Category: Fallout (Video Games), Fallout 3, Fallout 4, Fallout: New Vegas
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Ex-Raider Character, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Post Minutemen Ending, Post NCR Victory, Post Project Purity Completion
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-31
Updated: 2017-05-31
Packaged: 2018-11-02 08:32:37
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,509
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10940799
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nukacolass/pseuds/nukacolass
Summary: Derek King had made a lot of mistakes in his life, and being a raider was one of them. Another was probably joining a caravan that both the Sole Survivor and a few of her companions were a part of, only a few weeks after having a run in with her.





	1. When Freedom Calls

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek should never come up with the plans.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Theres a somewhat? graphic description of a freak accident death in literally the first paragraph. If that bothers you just read the first and last sentences. Other than that it's just canon-typical violence. 
> 
> Also sorry if it sucks, or if some characters are ooc. I'm still fairly new to actually publishing my works and I'm actually trying a different writing style for the series so, haha. 
> 
> Please don't expect too-regular updates. I only have two days left of sophomore year, which both consist of finals, ugh, and I'm applying a job, then I have my AP summer assignment and I gotta prep for the college courses I'm going to be taking. I'll try to post something at least once every three weeks.
> 
> CONSTRUCTIVE CRITICISM IS WELCOME! yell with me on tumblr https://nukacolass.tumblr.com !!!

_Sparks_.

They called him Sparks because he'd accidentally shocked their old leader to death, which is ironically the best accident Derek had ever had up to that point in his entire sixteen years of life. He'd been tinkering with some old suit of power armor and tossed some wire a little too close between a fairly large puddle and a generator. Needless to say, it ended up being a huge mistake. Their Chief, Spike, stepped into the puddle, water splashing all over the generator and onto the wire, which he stepped on next. Stepping on the wire itself would've been perfectly fine, but his particular step inched the wire just far enough to tough the generator as he slipped and fell, landing directly on the wire, which punctured his heart while violently shocking him. Thus leaving them with one less generator and no leader, which is how Derek finally made his place in the gang and was appointed their new leader. 

But two years later, at eighteen, he wasn't feeling the raider life as much as he used to. Derek never had much heart for being a raider, but it kept him and his sister alive and fed. Plus it paid alright when they raided a particularly large area. They made him the 'Chief', which is pretty much a useless title because there was really no need for a chief in a raider gang, unless you were planning on pulling some big raids and recruitment. But recruits were rare in this particular gang, as all they did was sit around old abandoned buildings doing drugs and laughing at the _worst_ jokes and stories.

Derek currently sat on an old couch with some members of another gang his had joined up with, where he listened to them tell a story. 

"Hey, Sparks, 'ave you heard about the grenade guy?" One asked. Derek was pretty sure the man had called himself 'Scar' at some point, and the absolutely massive scar across his face was an indication that he'd chosen his name well. 

He shook his head, "Nah, don't hear too many stories. 's mostly just jokes." He didn't much care for either. 

Scar just laughed, "Awe man, you're gonna love this." _Oh, joy_. "So, a while back we were holed up in Hardware Town, and this guy comes in, right? And I don't know, I guess something spooked him because-" Scar paused and started _giggling_. A grown-ass-man, who killed people for fun, was giggling. "-the guy totally freaked out and started throwing grenades. It totally threw us off guard, but then there were no explosions! Turns out, they weren't grenades at all, he was throwin' rocks and making the sounds with his mouth!" Scar found the story so funny he couldn't finish, which prompted his fellow gang member, Bruno, to continue. 

"Yeah, pins being pulled, the whole nine yards! It was crazy!"

"You guys take him out?" Derek asked, suppressing a grin, but raising a brow in interest. This had to be the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard. 

"Nope, we were all too shocked. After he'd thrown about a dozen rocks, he started making machine gun noises and backing out the door. Once he was outside it sounded like he pretended to get on one of those old prewar motorcycles and 'sped off'. Pretended to "shift" gears and everything!" 

Derek laughed out loud this time, "Jeez, how the hell does that guy even survive?" The three of them howled with laughter for a moment, before getting quiet again. Derek watched the two men talk quietly to each other, casting glaces at him before Scar spoke up again. 

"So uh-," Bruno nudged him," Shit man, I know." He snapped back to him before continuing. "What happened to Spike?" 

Derek sighed, leaning back into the soft couch, "He's dead." 

Bruno raised a brow, "Dead?" 

"Yeah. Dead," Derek snapped. "That's all there is to it." 

The two men seemed to get the message and backed off immediately, leaving the room and closing the door behind them so that only Derek was sitting there. He didn't like talking about what happened to Spike. It was truly an accident, but his gang seemed to love him for it and he didn't know why. Spike was an alright guy, not the best, but he was the reason Derek was still alive. But the man is dead, so he figured it didn't matter anymore.

Now, he wanted out of the raider business. He wanted to grab his sister and run for the hills. Maybe they'd become mercenaries or join a caravan. He wasn't the best, but he could handle a gun well.  Farming didn't seem so bad, at least, until the thought of Derek's own farm being raided became an issue. For now, his only plan was to leave that night with his sister in tow. 

Just then, the telltale _boom_ of a grenade shook the floor. He heard the agonized screams of the other raiders as shots rang out, and he could only hope his sister was okay. After a few moments of noise, everything got quiet.

His sister ran into the room, slamming the door behind her as more gunshots rang out, splintering the wooden walls. 

"It's that Vault dweller!" She panted, "Help me barricade the door!" 

Derek made a move to help, but then had a better idea. "Give me your arm, Becca." 

"What? Why?" 

"This is our way out, we're gonna pretend to be hostages, I'll tie both of us to the radiator. Hopefully they won't shoot us." 

Unfortunately, his plan was interrupted as the door slammed open. Derek froze, he had been right in the middle of tying Becca to the radiator, which only made him look like the raider he really was. The vault dweller aimed her gun at him and he sighed, dropping the rope, but the woman didn't lower her weapon.

Derek took a moment to get a good look at the woman who had been 'cleansing the Commonwealth'. He had to admit, she was different than he'd imagined. Her ginger hair was tied loosely into a ponytail, but he could tell it was naturally waved. She had bright blue eyes and freckles dusted her cheeks, at least where the blood of his comrades wasn't covering them. The Dweller wore her signature Vault Suit, but under the green combat armor it was clearly old and worn down. His eyes narrowed on her gun. A combat rifle with what could only be described as _gorgeous_ mods. 

"Gonna shoot a surrendered man?" Derek quipped, arching a thick brow. 

The dweller's dog growled at him, almost as if it actually understood him, but quickly got distracted as another raider ran for an escape and it ran to take them down. The raider got a good hit in and the mutt yelped loudly. At the sudden noise, the Dweller took her attention off of him briefly, but it gave him enough time to get the upper hand and he quickly shoved the gun up against her head, making her stumble backwards into the door frame, only to hit her head again.

Derek grabbed his sister's forearm and all but dragged her after him as the two of them sprinted out the front door. They continued to run, even after the shack was out of sight and he could only hear the panting of their heavy breathing. 


	2. The First Step

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Derek and Becca join a caravan, but so do the Sole Survivor, Deacon and MacCready.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Title from the Minutemen Quest of the same name.
> 
> Lol I wrote most of this on my phone. Finals went great, way better than I had hoped. Wanted to get this up before I get too busy, I bailed on that last job because they only wanted me to max my hours at 20/week, which um, no thanks. I applied at Fry's. 
> 
> Also! I'm going to be writing little spin-offs for this about my Lone Wanderer, Courer and the Sole Survivor! I've already started on my LW one, which may be published soon.

The Commonwealth was probably Derek's least favorite place in the entire world, though he couldn't say that honestly, as he has only ever lived in the Commonwealth. He liked to imagine there were much better places compared to this hellhole. But that's not the point, the point is that this caravan is going far, far away from the 'Wealth, and that's exactly where Derek wants to be. 

The caravan currently consisted of two pack brahmin, four guards, two traders and now, Derek and Becca. The head trader, a young woman with firey-orange hair named Yadira, hired them as extra guns. All in all, it was a fairly decent job that would get him far away from the Commonwealth and all it's crazy. Becca was just excited to have left the raiding life and get to explore the Wasteland.

"We have to make one more stop in Goodneighbor before we leave." Yadira told the group, her vibrant hair blowing in the wind. The group had no disagreements as they made their way towards Goodneighbor. 

Derek hadn't heard of any caravans that stopped in Goodneighbor, as it was considered the slums of Boston by most of the Commonwealth, but he figured there must be something important enough to warrant a stop. 

He had been to the town once before, briefly, but it wasn't too long ago. He only stopped for a drink and some ammunition before departure, but despite there being an actual weapons depot, the assaultron running it made him uneasy, so he opted to go to Daisy's Discounts, where he ended up befriending the owner. She was nice and he supposed stopping by to say a brief hello would be alright. He turned his attention to the road ahead of them, it was getting dark and in the distance he could see the flashing sign that read 'Goodneighbor'. 

Three of the other guards stayed outside with the other trader and the two brahmin while Yadira, Derek and Becca ventured inside the town. It was just as Derek had remembered, reeking of urine and various other odd smells he couldn't place. He nodded at Becca and Yadira to go ahead of him, as he was going to stop by Daisy's. As the two walked into the Third Rail, he grinned at the ghoul. 

"Well, I'll be damned." Daisy smiled. "Derek? That you, kid?" 

"Hey Daisy," He smiled. "How's it going?"

"Well, it's definitely better with that Institute business out of everyone's way. You hear what happened?" 

Derek shook his head. He had heard that the Commonwealth's boogeyman was gone, and that Vaultie had something to do with it, but he never heard the whole story.

"It was that Vault Dweller, the one with the big '111' on her back. She's the General of the Minutemen now, blew the whole damn Institute to hell." 

"Well," Derek smiled. "Good riddance, I say." 

Daisy nodded, "Ain't that the truth. But I reckon you aren't here to listen to this old girl babble on, what'cha need, hon?" 

"'Old girl'? Dais, you're the epitome of youth." He leaned over her counter, lowering his voice. "Becca and I found an out, we're headed far, far away from this place with some traveling traders." 

Daisy patted his cheek, cooing, "Well, I'm glad the two of you are alive, and I do hope you'll write."

"Of course," He gave her one last smile, "I better get going. I'll write soon." 

The Third Rail was also as he remembered it, a dimly lit bar with Magnolia singing on the makeshift stage flaunting a beautiful sparkly red dress and Charlie swirling around behind the bar. He spotted his sister and Yadira sitting by some drifters and went to sit with them. Yadira paid him no attention as she chatted with one of the drifters, his sister giving him a sideways smile before heading towards Charlie to order another round of drinks. 

"This is another one of our guards, Derek, Becca's older brother." Yadira introduced him. Derek looked over the four drifters and realized they weren't drifters at all. 

It was the Vault Dweller and some people he could only assume were friends who travel with her. One had hair that seemed to defy gravity and it looked like those wigs Derek would always see lying around. He wore sunglasses, unironically-- he could tell, and everything about him just felt _off_. 

There was also a woman, this one he recognized as Piper Wright. He remembered her only from a visit in Diamond City years ago while he was looking for a new gang to run with. He and Becca had run out of food and posed as settlers to enter the city. The woman still wore the same red coat and burgundy hat she had back then. 

The last one couldn't have been much older than Derek himself, probably early to mid twenties, and he looked like a classic mercenary. He was pretty sure he'd seen the man before, the last time Derek was in town. 

"Hey." Derek nodded in greeting, suddenly glad worn an old pair of patrolman glasses and got that haircut Becca had been begging him to get. He just hoped the Vault Dweller didn't recognize him.

"Have we met?" The Dweller asked. 

 _Of-fucking-course_. 

"Um," Derek replied in a somewhat dismissive tone. "No."

The Vault Dweller's gaze lingered on him for another moment before frowning, but she didn't say anything. Yadira wasn't one for tension, so she quickly interfered in the encounter.

"Luanne and her friends will be joining us on our trip." Yadira flashed a tight lipped smile. 

"Oh..." Derek smiled through the internal panic. "That's...great!" 

Yadira raised a thin brow at him before turning her attention back towards the vaultie. 

"Ready?" 

"Of course." 

Luanne wasn't a tall woman. Derek didn't know how he'd never noticed before but she barely came up to his shoulders. Her hair, instead of being messily tied up like the last time he'd seen her, had been pulled into a braid that rested over her shoulder. The rest of her companions stood with her and they went to rejoin the rest of the caravan outside. 

Derek sincerely hoped they weren't getting anymore members, the caravan was a big group and if they added anymore people it would only be harder to travel. 

When they were standing outside of Goodneighbor, Yadira pulled out a map and laid it on the ground, crouching down next to it.

Derek could see a red line drawn across the map as the firey haired woman traced it with her finger. "This is the route we'll be taking. It's the shorest, but safest, possible way to get across the Wastes."

Derek noticed something else on the map, "What are the other lines?"

"Blue lines are alternate routes, green is for allies and black is for medical care facilities. All of these are for emergencies." 

Derek nodded, satisfied with the answer as the woman packed the map back up. Becca walked close to him as the caravan took off towards the Capitol Wasteland. 

"She recognized me," Becca spoke in a low voice. 

Derek looked at his sister, "What'd she say?"

"Just that she was glad I got out of there safe. She didn't say anything about you, but I think after a while she's going to recognize you." 

"Let's hope not."

Becca gave him an incredulous look, "What if she does?" 

Derek looked at the back of Luanne's head, then at one of her companions as they turned to look at him. It was the man with the sunglasses. Derek looked back to his sister. 

"I don't know, I guess we'll just have to find out." 

**Author's Note:**

> Title from "Travelin' Blues" by T-Bone Walker.  
> Chapter title from the Fallout 4 quest of the same name.  
> Chapter one is technically a pre-story chapter, as it really just shows the character's departure from the gang. 
> 
> This is honestly just an outlet for this idea that has been nagging my brain for months, "what if this ex-raider kid joined up with the sole survivor, the courier, the lone wanderer and their companions and then has to save the world or smth". I need to get it out of my head. So here we go! 
> 
> I'll be writing longer chapters soon. Also, I know(at least, I think) that some raider stories have a set location where they're told, but just bear with me, and technically I did sort of stick with the canon location? It's just being retold in another. Some dialogue is pulled from the games, some isn't. So if you recognize it, it probably belongs to the creators. Derek King and his sister, however, are my characters. While the base characters (sole survivor, lone wanderer and courier) belong to Bethesda, some parts of their lives are my ideas. Pretty much ANYTHING that doesn't sound canon, is probably mine.


End file.
